Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu called called the Occupy movement a 'voice for the world.' Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters Archbishop Desmond Tutu has waded into an ecclesiastical row over a New York church's refusal to allow protesters from Occupy Wall Street to camp on a vacant lot it owns.

The South African activist and retired church leader urged Trinity Church to heed the pleas of demonstrators to allow the camp and, failing that, at least to stop any violence or arrests at the site during a day of action this Saturday to mark its three month anniversary.

Tutu, the latest in a growing number of church leaders to align themselves with Occupy called the movement a "voice for the world."

A wave of evictions that has cleared encampments from cities and campuses across the United States has galvanised a clergy of different faiths to open their doors, and sometimes their homes, to protesters.

More than 1,400 church leaders, including the Rev Jesse Jackson have signed a pledge of support to OWS and on Wednesday, a coalition of prominent Afro-American pastors joined with the movement to launch a new series of actions that they consider part of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr's unfinished legacy.

But despite a cascade of support from these quarters, the protesters have failed to secure from their new allies the one thing they say they need to reignite the movement after having somewhat faded from the public radar  an outdoor space in which to gather, talk and plan.

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